Sam Lowes: "From the first lap I knew I didn't have a chance"

Sam Lowes has said he is gutted to have finished sixth in today’s Moto2 race after showing strong pace all weekend.

Having enjoyed a strong season in Moto2 this year, Lowes came to Silverstone as favourite to take victory on home soil but things didn’t go to plan for the British rider.

After three days of sunshine, the rain came down ahead of Sunday morning warm-up, where Lowes’ day didn’t get off to the best of starts as he crashed out of the ten-minute session.

The circuit had significantly dried by the time the Moto2 race was due to start but more rain on the grid saw everyone head out on wet tyres. However, with that rain stopping shortly after the start of the race, riders were left with wet tyres on a trying track.

Having never ridden in mixed conditions, Lowes found himself struggling from the start– dropping back to seventh off the line as he steadily built his momentum. By the time he’d found a comfortable pace, the frontrunners had pulled a significant gap.

Lowes pushed on to finish ‘best of the rest’ to eventually cross the line in sixth place.

“That was shit wasn’t it? All weekend I’ve been fast and in the full wet this morning, despite the crash, I was quite fast too,” he said speaking after the race. “If it had stayed wet I’d have been alright but in those conditions I don’t have much experience with this bike and these tyres. I couldn’t figure out how I ride the bike, I had no front grip, no rear grip, if I ran corner speed I lost the rear, if I tried to stop the back I tucked the front but I couldn’t get any more out of the bike, I just didn’t want to crash. It was hard to take, just watching them ride away from me.

“As much as I’m disappointed, that’s the only thing I’m feeling as I don’t read too much into those conditions as I know I’ve done a good job this weekend. If it had been fully wet I’d have been up there but from the first lap I knew I didn’t have a chance, I was really struggling and it’s one of them, I’m gutted it was wet but it was the same for everybody and I wasn’t as good as those guys on the day. It’s a bit frustrating, but it’s the same for everybody and it’s funny as in the past I’d have preferred a wet race!

“I feel like I’ve let everyone down but there will be another British Grand Prix. On the grid it was raining but after three laps I wanted slicks! If I’d known it was going to dry up I’d have gone with slicks but it was really hard to gauge. I would have gambled if it wasn’t raining on the grid as I know I don’t have a chance in mixed conditions.”

Championship leader Johann Zarco stormed to his sixth win of the season ahead of Alex Rins and Tito Rabat.